Mountain bike Nationals kick-off with "24hours of Colorado Springs"

This past weekend Colorado Springs hosted the first race of mountain biking nationals with the "24 hours of Colorado Springs". Racers cruised through Palmer Park on a 13mile loop, beginning at noon on Saturday and continuing straight through 'till noon on Sunday.

(Names will be added after I receive the list of plate numbers, or individuals are identified in comments.)

Silent Splendor, Worth every bruise, cut, and scrape

To get there I was crawling face-down in mud for almost as long as I spent shooting. The trip was going to be memorable long before we arrived in the large cavern with intricately ornate gypsum crystals.

This is Silent Splendor.

This is where drawing upon my last cave photo experience I managed to thin down my gear to only 35 lbs (before coating it with a half ton of mud for the trip out). Far preferable to the ~65 lbs of gear used in Swirling Mist, and especially appreciated when it came time to haul everything up the 30 foot vertical mud chimney.

Thank you again to Denyse an Laura, my most patient and helpful caving compatriots w/o whom such trip would have not only have been impossible (access is VERY restricted), but also not nearly as successful. (...and fun!)

Not my first bike race, ProCycling Palmer Park 50

Shad Shreiner

Bruce Miller

Lindsey Watson

Russell Finsterwald

Russel Finsterwald (left), Shad Shreiner (center), & Rob Sousa (right)

Jonathan Rowell

As a precursor to the upcoming 24hour race in Palmer Park, the ProCycling Palmer Park 50 (with 25mile option) was a great way to spend a beautiful fall morning. Mind you not your average fall morning, with temps easily in the mid seventies, but beautiful none-the-less. 

Convergence of weather and light

Glen Eyrie Castle

Foggy bridge on the Queens Canyon trail

Stormy sunset over the Garden of the Gods

Sunset bursting through the rain storm over the Garden of the Gods

Rainbow over the Garden of the Gods Gateway

Colorado Springs is certainly not known for it's wet weather, but we are known for our natural beauty. So it is here I believe that beauty was uniquely highlighted when an atypical convergence of weather systems produced the most precipitation ever recorded in 24hours. There are no photos of swollen streams and flooded roads because they are not necessarily interesting to look at and I was already pressed for time when trying to shoot other places (e.g. these places). I was literally chasing light on foot and in my SUV, and although I managed to catch some, there are still the images only imaginable due to the limitations of four dimensions.

(and geologic, there was going to be a beautiful shot looking at a footbridge trail down in a canyon with the fog obscuring the further reaches, however the uncharacteristic weather, and rotten rock was too much to intelligently ignore while scrambling a high angle pitch, alone, and with heavy/ expensive gear.)

Balloon Classic photographer sale:Dime a dozen

e.g. Generic

(at the Balloon Classic in Colorado Springs a dime is still overpriced)

But hey, with a beautiful morning a good friend and casual attitude towards shooting, this is just for fun. Relatively I took very few images only shooting for those not as likely to be picked off by the myriad other photographers milling about the launch field seemingly snapping petabites of photos, with at least 99% of those generic.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge, prologue in COS

Carlos Alzate Escobar

 

Andrew Randell

Valeryi Kobzarenko

Elia Viviani

Carlos Piamonte

Levi Leipheimer

If you follow this blog you will have noticed a trend. A two wheeled, human powered trend.

Living in Colorado Springs we are certainly not unfamiliar with quality cycling by impressive athletes, however prior to Monday I have never photographed cyclists of such caliber. I am not even remotely qualified to write about those biologically supercharged anomalies, and so in lieu of my lack of credentials to tell of the race, each rider, and their support teams, I strongly suggest the USA Cycling Pro Challenge website)

Also you should check out the upcoming Peak Region Cyclist Magazine for more information, (online will have more photos) which is my primary client for this shoot.

Really you should look at this. This is world class racing here in Colorado. (and the USA. The US hasn't hosted an event like this before.)

My one suggestion.... Could we run this during good light. Photographing a race that starts at 13:15 is like building a fire in a downpour, not that it can't be done, there are just more opportune times.

Oh well, I enjoy a challenge, or several.

I wanted speed, I wanted to be close (yet out of the way) so I picked a turn, a really fast turn where I could be on the inside, w/ remote flashes, and enough prickly vegetation to discourage spectators.

Mind you, my desire to discourage spectators is not from a selfish point of view, merely pragmatic. I would often ask others if they wanted to shoot from where I was, however I did ask a few if they might shift slightly so as to not stand immediately in front of a flash.

A small side-note regarding the riders speed. My D700 w/MBD-10 Battery grip will push 9 frames per second, yet following the riders as they flew past the apex only allowed at best three frames before the rider disappeared.

 Basic Tech - Nikon D700, w/17-35mm lens, Radiopopper JRX (+studio for the sb800), 2x SB900, and one SB800, Gitzo monopod, and two ultrapod IIs.

Rocky Sunrise...

My level of activity does not necessarily correlate to my blog posts. It has been quite a length of time since my last entry so it would appear that I am kicking back, just chilling, far away from my camera. This could not be further from the truth. In fact I have been swamped with a number of projects ranging from from conservation related photography to help prevent the continued vandalism of a climbing area in Cheyenne Canyon, to a climbing trip in the Longs Peak region of Rocky Mountain National Park (which did not go even close to plan, thus the only worthwhile photos being sunrise above timberline), and of course the blog entry which I am writing next, the Prologue to USA Cycling's Pro Challenge in Colorado Springs.

Occasionally I'll shoot a bike race

Patrick Valentine riding the first technical section

I love Ute Valley park, the technical, the speed, and its location being a three minute ride from my house.

This past Saturday was a great day to shoot, and to experiment at the Hotter than Habanero mountain bike race. Shooting was standard fare with my usual kit, until afternoon while working on a setup one speedlight plummeted from a fully extended monopod. Thanks to a very brief intermission at the top of my head it was not a full 10 foot fall, but instead two separate cascades. Here I happily praise the build quality of the Nikon SB900 speedlight, gotta love pro gear. (Though not feeling the love for whatever let go... still trying to figure out that one)

As for experimenting, this excursion included another foray into video. Particularly conspicuous after my setting up a ~300ft highline, however due to an inadequate improvised trolley no usable aerial footage was shot,,, this time. Now I am inspired and have more than a couple ideas for a remedy.

This will be fun...

(Will caption photos after I receive rider list, or feel free to leave tags in comments and I will update asap)

Bear Creek- Short, fast, and dusty

Grant Clayton, 6th in Cat 1 men 40-49

Ron McCall cranking past the sun

Another Wednesday Sand Creek race, and another shot at shutter play. I've been here before, but there is always something new. To me this isn't an afternoon to shoot more of the same biking shots, this is a challenge, shoot without it looking generic, or (for better or worse) looking like what I have already shot.

Lesson of the day... Sprinting into a cactus really hurts.

One of the new things attempted yesterday was HD filming while running with the camera on a boom. Most challenging was sprinting while tracking the rider to my side, and not looking where I was running. It was unpleasant though not surprising to get tripped up by a large cactus, impaling my foot with inch long spines through my shoe.

'tis just a flesh wound.

(Names of riders with numbers visible on results board have been posted, looking for other names)

Sand Creek MTB race, Revisited

Mitchel Goates picks up speed along the flats, finishing 2nd (Cat1/2 15-18yo)

Unknown rider #

Unknown rider #

Colleen Cameron passing under the broken tree

Doug Johnson chases JJ Clark on the final lap. (Doug 2nd, JJ 1st in Pro/Cat1 men19-29)

JJ Clark following unknown rider #

It is again that time of year, two wheeled friends are metaphorically dusted off with a fresh coating of literal dust at frequent local races. Yesterday was the seasons first Wednesday evening Sand Creek Series race at Bear Creek Terrace. Warm weather manifested a respectable contingent of riders, while the eventual late day sun assisted in manifesting worthwhile photos. (As compared to the all too common races inevitably transpiring while the sun arcs through the least opportune overhead angles)

Thanks to a pleasantly uneventful shoot there are not any entertaining stories from yesterday.

Quality images without sitting on a cactus, or overwhelmed olfactory senses from a decomposing skunk carcass... I'm ok with that.

'Till next time...

Tech: Likely there aren't enough people who care about tech specs looking at my blog, if you want to know please ask